Struvite Recovery Facility project recognized by National Council for Public-Private Parternships

Hampton Roads Sanitation District (HRSD) and Ostara Nutrient Recovery Technologies Inc. announced today that they have won the prestigious Innovation Award from the National Council of Public-Private Partnerships (NCPPP) for their Struvite Recovery Facility incorporating Ostara’s Pearl Nutrient Recovery Process at HRSD’s Nansemond Treatment Plant in Suffolk, Va.

The award was presented at NCPPP’s Annual Meeting Reception and Awards Banquet in Arlington, Va. Ted Henifin, HRSD’s general manager, and Phillip Abrary, president of Ostara, were present to accept the award.

“We are very pleased to receive the Innovation Award from NCPPP. Our Struvite Recovery Facility has given us the ability to recover nutrients that were a maintenance problem in our plant and turn them into a commercially viable fertilizer product with basically no additional costs to HRSD,” said Henifin. “Our partnership with Ostara fits well with our strategic objective of reducing human impact on the environment. Recovering phosphorus from a sustainable source—wastewater—to replace mined phosphorus does just that.”

HRSD’s Struvite Recovery Facility, which opened in May, recovers phosphorus from wastewater recycle streams. The recovered phosphorus is transformed at the Nansemond facility into an environmentally friendly, commercial fertilizer called Crystal Green, which uses a slow-release formula to ensure that nutrients are absorbed by plants and thereby reduces fertilizer runoff from reaching and polluting fragile ecosystems.

HRSD’s partnership with Ostara showcases a win-win relationship whereby Ostara’s Pearl process provides benefits to HRSD, its ratepayers and the environment. Ostara’s process increases production efficiencies by reducing nutrient recycle loads within the Nansemond treatment plant, and creates an environmentally friendly premium fertilizer byproduct that is marketed and sold by Ostara as Crystal Green.

The Nansemond Struvite Recovery Facility is projected to remove more than 85% of the phosphorus from solids recycle streams and has the capacity to produce more than 1 million lb of Crystal Green fertilizer annually.